Today, people view many different types of video for various purposes, such as entertainment, obtaining information, educational purposes, etc. People receive the video information from various sources such as cable television providers, satellite television providers, broadcast television providers, and local video sources (e.g., DVD players, VHS players, video games, etc.). The video information may be in various formats such as high definition television and may be compressed using various standards such as H.264, etc.
The various types of video and the various compression formats for the video result in significant amounts of computing power, and therefore electrical power, in order to decode and display the video. The amounts of power to decode various video streams may not be an issue if the video display device is connected to a wall outlet or other effectively endless supply of power. If, however, the power source is limited, e.g., a laptop computer battery or other battery, then the amount of video that can be decoded and displayed can be limited significantly in time.
Further, how video is displayed for a user is typically outside of the user's control. While the user may adjust characteristics of the video such as color, tint, contrast, brightness, etc., the user cannot adjust what is displayed.
Referring to FIG. 1, a video system 500 includes a satellite TV provider 502, a video interface device 504, a transmitter 506, a receiver 508, a cable TV provider 510, and a local video source 512. The satellite TV provider 502 can transmit video signals through the transmitter 506 that are received by the receiver 508 and transmitted to the video interface device 504. The cable TV provider 510 and the local video source 512 can also provide video signals to the video interface device 504. The device 504 can process the received video signals, including decoding these signals, and display corresponding video images to a user.